Improve Access to Bond Options
Counties that provide criminal defendants with early and repeated opportunities to post bond realize several system-wide benefits. However, many counties find that they do not have the full range of bond options that would enable them to manage their jail population. Restrictive bond policies for low-level, non-violent offenders in county jails create increased costs – resulting from book-in and longer detentions – and exacerbate jail overcrowding. Additionally, bonds that are disproportionately high increase a county’s expenditures on indigent defense: when non-violent indigent defendants use all their assets to obtain release on an excessively high bond, they may be less likely to pay for their own private attorney.